August 31, 2021 5:00 am

We often say we are “going” to Mass. When we truly celebrate the Eucharist, we do more than simply come to Mass. We are not to be passive spectators, but active participants. We listen, speak, sing, stand, sit, kneel, eat. And through our participation, we are changed. Pope Francis recently said, “The prayer of the Christian makes the sacramental presence of Jesus his or her own. What is external to us becomes part of us…The Mass is always celebrated, and not only by the priest who presides over it, but by all Christians who experience it. And the center is Christ! All of us, in the diversity of gifts an ministries, join in His action, because He, Christ, is the Protagonist of the liturgy.” (February 2, 2021) Through our active participation in the Eucharist, particularly in receiving Christ’s Body and Blood in Holy Communion, we become more like Christ and are strengthened to live as Christ’s people in the world.

We often say we are “going” to Mass. When we truly celebrate the Eucharist, we do more than simply come to Mass. We are not to be passive spectators, but active participants. We listen, speak, sing, stand, sit, kneel, eat. And through our participation, we are changed. Pope Francis recently said, “The prayer of the Christian makes the sacramental presence of Jesus his or her own. What is external to us becomes part of us…The Mass is always celebrated, and not only by the priest who presides over it, but by all Christians who experience it. And the center is Christ! All of us, in the diversity of gifts an ministries, join in His action, because He, Christ, is the Protagonist of the liturgy.” (February 2, 2021) Through our active participation in the Eucharist, particularly in receiving Christ’s Body and Blood in Holy Communion, we become more like Christ and are strengthened to live as Christ’s people in the world.